Apple has kept itself pretty busy with the launching of the Apple Watch this month, but there is still rumors about what it wants to do about various versions of its best-selling products including the iPad, iPod, and the iPhone. There have been a lot of rumors about the iPhone 7, as well as its release date and specs.
There has been a trend of Apple since 2009 to release an iPhone one year and then follow it up with a different model with an "S" version the year after. This tradition began with the iPhone 3GS, and if Apple follows this pattern, then one should be seeing the launch of the iPhone 6S.
Daily Mail suggests that Apple might skip this "S" stage and just go directly to the iPhone 7. If that were to happen, then it had better be worth a "leveling up" with all kinds of new features and such. That one prime feature would be Force Touch, which can recognize typical scrolling and pinching gestures, and it can track the pressure of a click and respond accordingly.
The iPhone 6 has a screen size of 4.7 inches, which is more than a slight increase of the last design. Compare the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6 Plus, and it is a whopping increase as the iPhone 6 Plus is 5.5 inches with the 4-inch iPhone 5 model. Considering that many phones such as the Galaxy Note series are going the phablet (mash-up of phone and tablet) route, it is interesting to see Apple follow this trend and wonder if the company will attempt to set a new standard and go the other way.
It is possible that perhaps the 4-inch iPhone planned for 2015 is just one of several models of the iPhone 7, assuming that Apple will even call it that. Tech Radar has reported that the newest version of the iPhone might include an unveiling of the iPhone 6C, which could be the 4-inch version.
By the way, there is a rumor that Apple could be discontinuing the 5C, so the 6C would be the obvious replacement. There has been rumors that the 6C could have a more "female friendly" design, as women's hands are often smaller than men's, and would not welcome a bigger iPhone 6 Plus or other phablet-sized phone.
So the new 4-inch iPhone could be one of a few phones that the company puts out. Considering that iPhone accessories are a big market with Otterbox, Trident, and other similar companies who produce cases. Apple's constant changing of their phones increases the market for these accessories, and it is possible that a 4-inch Apple iPhone could be a very easy transition as these companies could just re-use old iPhone 5 cases, assuming they would fit.
Considering that Apple announced the iPhone 6 last September, it will be a while before the newest version of the iPhone will appear in 2015, if it shows up at the exact same time.
